Zhou Gongjin
Zhou Gongjin (周 公瑾) is an antagonist seen throughout the series who is manipulating conflicts and problems behind the scenes. Background Zhou was from Dahan before it was destroyed by the Yotsuba and assimilated by the Great Asian Alliance. Now having to work for them, he shows no real loyalty to the Great Asian Alliance, and is actually trying to sabotage the Great Asian Alliance for his own benefits. He wishes to destroy the Yotsuba Clan, so that he can avenge his fallen country. His boss shows the same thoughts as him. He is the owner of a Chinese restaurant, which is his headquarters and hiding place for his boss, Jiedo Heigu. He secretly talks to his boss in the basement about their future plans and goals. Goals The ultimate goal of Zhou and his boss is the destruction of the Yotsuba Clan. The reason is because the Yotsuba Clan had destroyed Dahan that Zhou and his boss had originally belonged to. This resulted in Dahan being taken over by the Great Asian Alliance. In order to achieve their ultimate goal, Zhou and his boss had begun to devise many different chronological plans: 1. Zhou had planned to manipulate the events leading up to Scorched Halloween, in order to weaken both the Great Asian Alliance and the Japanese Military. Zhou wished to weaken the Great Asian Alliance, so that binding laws would weaken, which would allow Zhou more freedom of movement. Zhou wished to weaken the Japanese Military by killing a large number of combat Magicians, which would indirectly weaken the power of the Ten Master Clans. Results: Zhou succeeded in weakening the Great Asian Alliance by decreasing their military strength with the death of the Great Asian Alliance's Strategic-Class Magician, Liú Yúndé. This allowed Zhou more freedom of movement. However Zhou had failed to reduce and weaken a large number of Japanese combat Magicians because of the Japanese Military obtaining a fast victory over the Great Asian Alliance due to the efforts of the Strategic-Class Magician, Ooguro Ryuuya. 2. Zhou had planned to increase the number of negative criticisms about Magicians with public media, in order to directly weaken the Japanese Magicians so that he can indirectly weaken the Yotsuba Clan. Results: He had achieved partial success of increasing negative criticisms about Combat Magicians in Japan, however Zhou was dissatisfied that the increased criticisms didn't achieve his desired level. Zhou's plan of increasing negative criticisms had partially failed due to the efforts of First High School's demonstration on making a prototype of a Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor, the Rozen family approval of the Thermonuclear Fusion Reactor, and a broken agreement with Sawamura Yoshio on advertising negative criticisms on their public media company. 3. Zhou planned to assassinate Sawamura Maki, the daughter of Sawamura Yoshio, because of his broken agreement to advertise negative criticisms on their public media company. Zhou had Robert Sun, the son of Richard Sun, organize the assassination. Results: Zhou's plan to assassinate Sawamura Maki had failed completely because Shiba Tatsuya intercepted them before they began to attack Sawamura Maki's Residence. 4. Zhou planned to cooperate with the Saegusa and the Kudou Clan, so that he could interfere at the Nine Schools Competition without any problems. Zhou planned to interfere with the performance test of the sealed parasites in the Nine Schools Competition by driving them out of control and injure the participants, which would indirectly weaken the Yotsuba Family. Results: The combat servitors housing the parasites are neutralized by Shiba Tatsuya with the support from Pixie and Sakurai Minami. The test and plan is concluded to be a failure. Afterwards Zhou had to escape while fighting against the Kuroba Family who were sent by the Yotsuba Clan because of all of Zhou's effort to weaken the Yotsuba Clan. 5. Zhou planned to use the Traditionalists to help him escape all the factions that were trying to kill him. Zhou seems to have brainwashed the Traditionalists (possibly with Evil Eye), in order to obey his command without any objection. Results: The Traditionalists were defeated and Zhou had to runaway from the Traditionalists Military Base by the combined effort of Shiba Tatsuya, Ichijou Masaki, Kudou Minoru, and members from the Yotsuba Clan. Zhou fought for his life against these powerful adversaries. However when he realized that he could not escape his situation, he used magic to make himself burst into flames which left no trace of his body to be found. Future Plans 6. Zhou wants to find out the identity of the Japanese Combat Magician nicknamed "Mahesvara" by the Great Asian Alliance because of his constant interference with his plans. Abilities Magical Abilities He has demonstrated some magical knowledge throughout events. ➨ Master Manipulator Zhou has shown that he is able to manipulate the events of major conflicts, so that he would be able to benefit from them. Zhou uses his connections to create and manipulate conflicts, in order to achieve his goals. Also, Zhou can persuade other people into doing things for him, by redirecting their emotions and with his communication skills. ➨ Ghost Walker Zhou's Special Ability that manipulates the target's direction, unrestricted by physical parameters. True Evil Eye 'Shadowbeast "The pair simultaneously kicked off of the ground to gain distance. Zhou took a glowing black talisman from his pocket---what he produce was an inscribed card and Nakura let loose an activation sequence from his CAD. Zhou probably had the spell on standby from the beginning. Their magics activated at the same time. An entirely black, four-legged beast came from Zhou’s card, likely a synthetic body that imitated a dog had leapt out. The black dog instantly sprang off the ground to make a pounce straight at Nakura’s windpipe. Ten-odd transparent needles pierced the shadowy body from below Nakura’s leg was submerged in the river. The needles that pierced the shadow beast were fired off from the vicinity of that leg. “Water needles, huh……” Zhou’s eyes were able to perceive the nature of the transparent needles within the darkness. “That was careless. It was a mistake to set the meeting at the riverbank. The “higher ground” advantage seems to be yours” “That is magic that constructs a synthetic beast using shadows as a medium” “Yes. The boring name is embarrassing but, my master calls it, ‘Shadowbeast’. The spell is a hybrid magic that incorporates western sorcery making it too disgraceful to brag about” “Western sorcery…...a hell hound, eh. So, I erred on ‘time’,huh. I should of at least made it a night when the moon was out” The pair was not just carelessly exchanging discourse on techniques. As they were talking, the shadowbeast was spat out of the card in Zhou had in his hand and Nakura intercepted it with the water needles. Zhou did not appear to be composing new magic. In short, the inscribed card Zhou held probably had many more beasts stockpiled within. Despite the fact that the number was already over ten, there was no sign of the supply being exhausted. Just how many layers of magic had been piled on to that tiny card, it’s capacity seemed to have no bounds. “However, I don’t understand” “What” None the less, the first to voice a question was Zhou. Nakura’s expression did not change; he was attacking the phantom beast, Zhou had summoned mechanically. The reply, he made to Zhou, was almost completely devoid of emotion" Volume 14 chapter 4 Trivia *Zhou Gongjin is strongly based on Doctor Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog Series. *His name is taken from the historical strategist of Wu, Zhou Yu (stylename: Gongjin), from the Three Kingdoms period (using the same Kanji). References Category:Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Dahan Category:Great Asian Alliance Category:Magicians Category:Ancient Magic User